What To Know About the 1611 Publication of the KJV Bible

What To Know About the 1611 Publication of the KJV Bible

The King James Version of the Bible has captured readers’ imaginations in many ways. More than the greatest story ever told, its own genesis has a story of its own. Here’s what to know about the 1611 publication of the KJV Bible.

It Wasn’t Exactly the First of Its Kind

While the King James Version was the first English translation to enjoy widespread popularity, it wasn’t the first time that translators had brought the Bible into the English language. It wasn’t even the first translation to receive royal approval—James’s predecessor, Henry VIII, authorized a translation of the Bible in 1538, but allegations of poor scholarship limited its success. The Geneva Bible, the work of exiled Protestants in Switzerland, reached English shores in 1576, but didn’t gain widespread acceptance. It did gain purchase among the Puritans, who would play an outsize role in the settling of what would become today’s United States. Though the KJV wasn’t the first of its kind, history has certainly borne out its quality.

A Work Seven Years in the Making

Today, we enjoy translations at the click of a button. 17th-century scholars, as you might expect, had to toil quite a bit more than we do. Just as students of English history should be able to immediately associate the year 1066 with the Norman Conquest, they should have the same rote memorization of 1611 as the year of the publication of the King James Bible. However, translation of the KJV began well in advance of that year—1604, to be exact, when James VI & I approved his roster of translators and put them to work.

Hast Thou Changed With the Times?

One thing that trips up many readers of the KJV is the writers’ commitment to using now-archaic second-person pronouns such as “thou,” “thee,” “thy,” and “thine.” Today, we accept this as the gravity of Biblical prose—somehow, “love thy neighbor as thyself” feels more official than “love your neighbor as yourself.” Would it surprise you that translators of the 1600s felt the same way? At the turn of the 17th century, English’s set of informal and singular second-person pronouns were already on the wane, particularly in London. Scholars took note of the ongoing thou-you merger and sided with tradition. What you should know about the 1611 publication of the KJV is that it was old-fashioned from day one.

It Wasn’t Perfect From Day One

Considering the reverence with which so many Christians treat the King James Version, one may think that the KJV hasn’t changed since 1611. Alas, humans are fallible. An early printing used “he” for “she” in the book of Ruth in a case of misgendering that was as ill-received as any today. Another press run critically omitted a negative in the Ten Commandments, claiming “thou shalt commit adultery.” We’ve made a few slight changes along the way. One bigger change is helping readers study the KJV, thanks to editions such as the Thompson chain-reference study Bible.